Olympian visits, trains with former Concord-Carlisle great

January 07, 2015

By STEPHEN TOBEY

Photo by: Stephen Tobey

"Many winter track coaches and athletes in this area understand how to make do with less-than-ideal facilities and training conditions. Anna Ryzhykova, one of the top 400-meter hurdlers in the world, can empathize. Even the outdoor facilities in her hometown in the Ukraine, are far from ideal. In fact, she has to travel a few hours just to find a suitable outdoor track."

Champion from the Ukraine trains locally

December 10, 2014

By STEPHEN TOBEY

Photo by: Stephen Tobey

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"In late October, shortly after one of the Acton-Boxborough field hockey team’s tournament games wrapped up on Leary Field, a young athlete and his coach set up shop on a corner of the turf. It’s not an unusual sight, an athlete using the Leary Field turf and track to get in a workout, using small agility hurdles. What was unusual was that this athlete came from halfway around the world to train here."

August 20, 2012

By MELANIE GRAYCE WEST

Photo by: Matthew Healey 

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"Ron Shaich loves his carbs. The daily craving hits at about 11 a.m. and he reaches for a bagel, a muffin or a fruit pastry at the office. Resisting baked goods is a special kind of torture for the 58-year-old founder and co-chief executive of Panera Bread Co., a restaurant chain of roughly 1,600 bakery-cafes. Mr. Shaich, a confessed couch potato, says he wasn't an athlete in his youth and only paid lip service to exercise in his 30s and 40s, preferring instead to work, sleep or spend time with his wife and two children. 'There's always something that's more urgent, even if it's not more important,' he says. By his 50s, Mr. Shaich (sounds like "shake") made a commitment to lose weight and increase his fitness level—both so that he could be active with his son and daughter"

May 30, 2007

By STEPHEN TOBEY

Photo by: Shawn Lynch

"Usually, as an athlete advances from the divisional to the All-State to the New England track championships, the competition gets more challenging. Though the All-State and New England championships are still coming up in the next two weeks, there probably won't be a more competitive field in the girls high jump than the one that was assembled at Saturday's MIAA Division 2 championships in Reading. The top three finishers on Saturday each placed in the top eight at the National Indoor Championships in March. This time, Concord-Carlisle senior Olga Ponomarenko, who placed seventh in New York this winter, finished first ahead of Grace Watson of Belmont, the second-place finisher in the national meet, and Tewksbury's Kristen Judge, who finished eighth in New York."

June 11, 2006

By CHRIS FORSBERG

Photo by: Jim Davis/Globe Staff

"Momeht. Btopoe. Second.

Regardless of whether you say it in Ukrainian, Russian, or English, it means the same thing to Olga Ponomarenko: Not good enough."